1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for the care of teeth of domestic animals and more particularly, to a toothbrush for comprehensive cleaning of the teeth of such animals, and comprising a toothbrush head with four distinct sets of bristle tufts, each set having a distinct purpose.
2. Description of the Background
It is well known that cats and dogs should have their teeth brushed to prevent build up of tartar and plaque along the outer surfaces and in the interproximal areas between the teeth, which can lead to gum disease, tooth loss, and unpleasant smelling breath. Many pet owners are reluctant to clean their pet's teeth because of the time it takes and the difficulty in brushing, particularly as the brushing progresses and the pet becomes agitated. In lieu of brushing the pet's teeth, many pet owners take their pets to the veterinarian for brushing where the teeth cleaning process often includes sedatation.
Many of the available toothbrushes have only one head with one set of bristles. Yet, the prior art is replete with variations of toothbrushes that attempt to vary the formation of the toothbrush and/or the bristles to improve the effectiveness of the toothbrush. These examples, however, are designed for human use, and are not particularly suited for pets as they do not allow for simultaneous full coverage of the mesial, distal and occlusal surfaces of the teeth, while cleaning and massaging the opposing teeth, and propping the animal's jaw open, at the same time. These features are particularly beneficial when brushing pets' teeth because of the need to thoroughly clean the teeth as quickly as possible before the pet becomes too agitated.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,021 to Hohlbein shows a toothbrush having a plurality of peripheral bristle tufts and a plurality of adjacent bristle bars located internally within the toothbrush head, to provide support for the peripheral bristle tufts during brushing.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,214,407 to A. A. Deutsch, issued in 1940 and now expired, discloses a brush head made in three parts, wherein the end bristles on the longitudinal sides of the lateral bristle carriers are longer than the middle groups of bristles in these parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,491 to Hegemann discloses a toothbrush having three brush heads that self-adjust to maintain contact with the surfaces of the teeth and the gums. The three brush heads are independently attached to a single handle through elongated flexible arms and adjust independently to maintain contact with the surfaces of different size teeth and gums.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,528,992 to Barr, issued in 1950 and now expired, discloses a toothbrush having at one end a centrally disposed flat bar that supports the outwardly extending arms arranged in V-formation at an angle to the plane of the bar, a pair of transversely extending head members in T-formation at the ends of said arms, with opposed inwardly projecting bristle tufts whose adjacent ends are slightly further apart at the outsides of the tufts than at the inner sides, and at the opposite end of the handle, a transversely extended U-shaped arm which supports the longitudinally extending brush heads on its opposite ends, which support the inwardly directed bristle tufts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,526 shows a tooth brushing device in which the handle has a pair of elongated arms and cowling on the distal end, whose arms extend from the handle generally parallel to each other with a slot in between. The cowling bridges the slot and has an inverted U-shaped body with fields of bristles on the inwardly directed surfaces of the cowling.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,454 to Quintilla, et al. shows three separate brush heads, a right, a left and center, each attached to a separate arm and each arm glued to an elongated handle.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 325,821 discloses the design of a toothbrush with six distinct sets of bristles.
Finally, GB 449,836 to Richards shows a dental brush with a pair of opposed sets of bristles held in a U or V shaped yoke or stock whose outer ends abut or nearly abut, and one set of bristles on the outside and one set of bristles on the inside of the arch of the yoke or stock.
Unfortunately, none of the prior art devices offer certain improvements nor address certain deficiencies for pet use, none are designed particularly for use on domestic pets, addressing the idiosyncrasies of brushing pet's teeth. Therefore, there remains a need for, and it would be greatly advantageous to provide, a pet toothbrush with four sets of bristle tufts attached to the toothbrush head for thorough and efficient teeth cleaning. The toothbrush comprises an elongate handle with a head attached perpendicular to the handle in a T-formation. The toothbrush head comprises three distinct regions, i.e., a middle region and two respective angled end regions. The two angled end regions are each set at roughly a 30 degree angle to the face of the middle region. Two sets of bristles are attached to the front of the toothbrush head on the angled end regions, opposite each other at roughly a 30 degree angle to the face of the head, to cover the mesial and distal surfaces of the teeth, and the third set of bristles protrudes from the middle region, i.e., the center of the face of the toothbrush head, perpendicular to the first two bristle sets to cover the occlusal surface of the teeth, and the fourth set of bristles is attached to the back of the toothbrush head for cleaning and massaging opposing teeth, and for aid in propping the animal's jaw open while softening the bite during cleaning.